Arome was awful today. She held her own class at the back of the room. She did no class work and she refused to stop talking. What am I supposed to do now?
Macolm got suspended today. He showed up at the bus stop with a BB gun. Then, he shot Shauna in the neck with it. This will probably be the last of him for the school year. It’s too bad. I just talked to him about bringing his grade up fourth quarter so that he won’t have to go to summer school. He seemed up to the challenge. Now, I feel like I’ve wasted all the time I spent on him this year. Mr. Burns just had a talk with him, too. Mr. Burns gave him a new notebook and everything. It seems that Malcolm was failing all his classes and really needed to do better this quarter. He’s smart enough to do it. Maybe the pressure was just too much.
Tuesday, April 26
Monday, April 25
Incidents and Allegations
I talked to the principal on Friday about the incident with Arome. She was assigned one day of In-School-Suspension on Thursday and they held her out of my class on Friday. It’s disappointing. I would think that a threat to a teacher would get more serious consequences than that. Arome’s mother showed up during the school day and demanded to talk to me. She told the principal that I had provoked Arome. The principal told her that he couldn’t interrupt my class (at least he got that right) and then interrupted my class to ask if I could meet with her after school. It didn’t seem like I had a choice so I said I would. A few minutes later, the office secretary also interrupted class. Arome’s mother couldn’t meet after school, how about first thing before school on Monday morning?
I agonized over the meeting all weekend. What was I going to say? What if she was hostile (the principal told me that she was hard to handle one-on-one)? Why wasn’t I getting more support from the principal? Does he think I’m in competent? Does he want me to work at the school?
I thought about taking Arome to court. After all, she did threaten me. The school didn’t seem to take it very seriously. One day of In-School-Suspension? She could be in jail! Maybe a court case would force the school to take these incidents more seriously.
I arrived at school early today for the meeting. The first person I saw was the principal. He was heading into another meeting. It turned out that he didn’t know anything about my meeting. It looked like I was going to have to do the conference alone. I went to my room and collected my trump card. Earlier, I had confiscated a notebook from Arome. The notebook was full of obscene and perverted things that she had written in class. I placed the notebook in my binder in case the conference got nasty. If Arome’s mother claimed that Arome was an angel and I was the problem then I could give her the notebook. It was time for the meeting. I prayed and then headed to the office. I didn’t want to meet in my classroom with nobody around.
Arome was there. So were her mother and a man. Her stepfather? Grandfather? It looked like a three-on-one. We went into the conference room together. There was an awkward moment of silence and then I started telling my story. First, I told them how I had worried about Arome all weekend and that I hoped this conference would resolve things so that she could get back to the business of being a student. I was hoping to defuse the situation a little. Then, I started a couple of weeks back. I told them about the comments that Arome was making in class. She tried to interrupt but her mother stopped her. I told the whole story and I’m sure that it sounded different coming out of my mouth than it had out of hers. Arome tried to interject comments along the way. Each time, her mother stopped her.
There was a knock at the door. The principals wanted to use the conference room for a meeting. Could we move to another room? We stood up to move. The man shook my hand, “Sorry to waste your time, Mr. Moore.” He and Arome’s mother left. Arome walked off to the cafeteria. I stood there uncertain. What had just happened?
I’m still not sure. Did they believe me? Why wasn’t there a confrontation? Why didn’t they reprimand Arome? What did it mean? My trump card was unplayed. Did I win the hand? I guess we’ll see how Arome behaves next class.
I agonized over the meeting all weekend. What was I going to say? What if she was hostile (the principal told me that she was hard to handle one-on-one)? Why wasn’t I getting more support from the principal? Does he think I’m in competent? Does he want me to work at the school?
I thought about taking Arome to court. After all, she did threaten me. The school didn’t seem to take it very seriously. One day of In-School-Suspension? She could be in jail! Maybe a court case would force the school to take these incidents more seriously.
I arrived at school early today for the meeting. The first person I saw was the principal. He was heading into another meeting. It turned out that he didn’t know anything about my meeting. It looked like I was going to have to do the conference alone. I went to my room and collected my trump card. Earlier, I had confiscated a notebook from Arome. The notebook was full of obscene and perverted things that she had written in class. I placed the notebook in my binder in case the conference got nasty. If Arome’s mother claimed that Arome was an angel and I was the problem then I could give her the notebook. It was time for the meeting. I prayed and then headed to the office. I didn’t want to meet in my classroom with nobody around.
Arome was there. So were her mother and a man. Her stepfather? Grandfather? It looked like a three-on-one. We went into the conference room together. There was an awkward moment of silence and then I started telling my story. First, I told them how I had worried about Arome all weekend and that I hoped this conference would resolve things so that she could get back to the business of being a student. I was hoping to defuse the situation a little. Then, I started a couple of weeks back. I told them about the comments that Arome was making in class. She tried to interrupt but her mother stopped her. I told the whole story and I’m sure that it sounded different coming out of my mouth than it had out of hers. Arome tried to interject comments along the way. Each time, her mother stopped her.
There was a knock at the door. The principals wanted to use the conference room for a meeting. Could we move to another room? We stood up to move. The man shook my hand, “Sorry to waste your time, Mr. Moore.” He and Arome’s mother left. Arome walked off to the cafeteria. I stood there uncertain. What had just happened?
I’m still not sure. Did they believe me? Why wasn’t there a confrontation? Why didn’t they reprimand Arome? What did it mean? My trump card was unplayed. Did I win the hand? I guess we’ll see how Arome behaves next class.
Wednesday, April 20
Someone is Always Willing to Take a Bad Student's Place
Arome slipped out of the middle of class today. I had kicked her friend, Tasha, out of class. Suddenly, I realized that Arome was gone too. She tried to sneak back into the room but I caught her and wouldn’t let her in. She started screaming into the room. There were only a couple of minutes left in class so I just ignored her. By the time class was over and she came in to collect her things, she was steaming mad. She got up in my face and told me, “I’m going to smack the fuck out of you!”
It was in front of several students, which is even worse. The principal knows about it now. We’ll see what he does. I don’t know what’s wrong with Arome. It’s like she snapped. One day she just woke up and decided she hates me. Ms. Liger said that at about the same time Arome has decided that she loves Ms. Liger.
We thought that if we got rid of one or two students then everything would be great. Now it seems like someone is always willing to take the bad student's place.
It was in front of several students, which is even worse. The principal knows about it now. We’ll see what he does. I don’t know what’s wrong with Arome. It’s like she snapped. One day she just woke up and decided she hates me. Ms. Liger said that at about the same time Arome has decided that she loves Ms. Liger.
We thought that if we got rid of one or two students then everything would be great. Now it seems like someone is always willing to take the bad student's place.
Tuesday, April 19
Well, You Was Talking Too
I put a couple of girls out of class today. They were being incredibly rude and refused to stop talking. One of them, Arome, yelled back at me, “Well, you was talking too!” As if she doesn’t understand that it might be OK for a teacher to talk to the class but not OK for students to be talking to each other. She also told me, “I’m getting real tired of you.”
It’s hurtful. I’ve tried so hard to make class fun and interesting. It makes me feel unappreciated. If I’m going to get constant disrespect then why bother teaching? I can understand why 50% of teachers leave teaching in the first five years. I can understand why teachers leave our school. I can understand how this hurts our students. Do our students and their parents understand it?
It’s hurtful. I’ve tried so hard to make class fun and interesting. It makes me feel unappreciated. If I’m going to get constant disrespect then why bother teaching? I can understand why 50% of teachers leave teaching in the first five years. I can understand why teachers leave our school. I can understand how this hurts our students. Do our students and their parents understand it?
Friday, April 15
Why Teachers Cheat on Tests
Ms. Jefferson gave her students answers to the quarterly test. One of her students told on her. When she was confronted about it she said that everyone in the department was doing it. Now it looks like she’s going down. She has to meet with Human Resources.
It’s a bad situation. She got behind because one of her parents (who is former School Board) asked what the city’s policy on evolution is. Ms. Jefferson emailed the city to ask and they couldn’t come up with an answer for two weeks. She got behind because she couldn’t teach evolution. Then, the test came in with a huge number of questions on it from the few things she hadn’t covered. She gave the answers to the questions she hadn’t covered. She shouldn’t have done it. Still, I feel bad for her. It’s her first year in the school and she’s been under constant fire from parents.
Ms. Lupe’s “permanent” sub resigned too. Ever since Ms. Lupe resigned there has been an ever-changing face covering class for her. I don’t think her students are learning much of anything now. It’s a constant battle.
It’s a bad situation. She got behind because one of her parents (who is former School Board) asked what the city’s policy on evolution is. Ms. Jefferson emailed the city to ask and they couldn’t come up with an answer for two weeks. She got behind because she couldn’t teach evolution. Then, the test came in with a huge number of questions on it from the few things she hadn’t covered. She gave the answers to the questions she hadn’t covered. She shouldn’t have done it. Still, I feel bad for her. It’s her first year in the school and she’s been under constant fire from parents.
Ms. Lupe’s “permanent” sub resigned too. Ever since Ms. Lupe resigned there has been an ever-changing face covering class for her. I don’t think her students are learning much of anything now. It’s a constant battle.
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